Bonnie J. Sacerdote has been elected to the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was announced by James R. Houghton, the Museum's Chairman. The election took place at the May 13 meeting of the Board.
"Bonnie's commitment to the educational mission of the Metropolitan Museum is both boundless and exemplary," commented Mr. Houghton. "As an enthusiastic volunteer in the Education Department, energetic member of the Chairman's Council, and generous friend to the Museum, she inspires all who know her. I look forward to having many opportunities to work with her in her new role."
"Educating people about art has always been one of the central activities of the Museum," noted Philippe de Montebello, Director of the Metropolitan. "Bonnie's extensive personal experience working with schoolchildren at the Met has given her a unique perspective. Her advocacy in the area of arts education will serve to strengthen this institution as it moves forward in the new century."
Mrs. Sacerdote was from 1994 through 2005 both a teacher and a trainer of new teachers in Learning to Look, a program that brings children from inner-city Catholic schools to the Metropolitan Museum. As an education volunteer, she has taught first- through twelfth-grade students to appreciate art in virtually every department in the Museum. Through an initiative called First Views, she has offered thematic tours to elementary school students, enabling them to make connections between art and different cultures.
Her commitment to education at the Metropolitan was reaffirmed in 1999 through the establishment of the Giorgio S. Sacerdote Fund, named in memory of her father-in-law, which supports offerings in the Museum's Concerts and Lectures program, and in 2007 with the naming of the Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall, a state-of-the-art 125-seat facility in the Museum's recently renovated Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education. A member of the Chairman's Council since 2003, she also became a member of the Fund for the Met's Major Gifts Committee in January 2008.
In addition to her work with the Metropolitan, Mrs. Sacerdote served on the Visiting Committee for the Smith College Museum of Art (1993-2007) and was a member of the board of the Manhattan Theatre Club (1985-1995).
A graduate of Smith College, where she majored in art history, Mrs. Sacerdote has also completed graduate courses in museum studies at Bank Street College of Education.
She and her husband Peter, who is an advisory member of the Metropolitan Museum's Investment Committee, reside in Manhattan.
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May 13, 2008